Emigrants Trials In The Ohio Valley

Why did the early settlers leave their home in the East and migrate to the
lands of the great Ohio valley? These pioneers were instilled with a great ambience
to explore what appeared to them to be a land of glorious rewards.
Land! Land! Land! After the Revolution the most impressive migration in the
Ohio valley began in the form of free lands given in the service of the soldiers
for their contribution to the war of freedom.
Wayne's defeat of the Indians opened the great region of the Northwest Territory
to a population flow never before seen in the history of the country. The Miami
Valley, rather small in size, received a much larger share than any other area
of equal size.
The counties of Warren, Butler and Hamilton received the largest number of immigrants.
A census taken in 1803, during Ohio's first year of existence, showed that Warren
County had more inhabitants than Butler, Montgomery, Greene and Clermont counties
combined.
The foremost western emigration route was via the Wilderness Road and the Ohio
River. Daniel Boone, with 36 ax-men, opened up a bridle path,
or pack-horse trail as it was sometimes called, from the Holston to the Kentucky
River through Cumberland Gap in 1775.
The trail was often called the Wilderness Road or Boone's Trace. This was the
most famous roadway in the early days of Kentucky. Tens of thousands of settlers
used this route from Virginia and the Carolinas undertaking a new venture in
life.
However, the mighty Ohio River was the leading highway of travel westward. Journeying
by water was the cheapest, quickest and the most comfortable form of travel.
The pioneer would customarily build or purchase a flatboat and ferry his implements
and household goods on the long journey down river. Passengers and livestock
would generally be huddled together on the small craft because of lack of room.
There was little protection from the elements and low water frequently caused
irritating delays.
The emigrants generally chose late fall or early winter for launching their
flatboats, reasoning being the river was normally too low for flotation during
the summer. Sometimes cold weather set in before the rise of the river. Judge Dunlevy stated
this was the case in the autumn of 1779. The Judge lived in the Red Stone country
of Pennsylvania and saw crowds of emigrants gathered in wait for the rains that
would raise the river. They had traveled from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland
and the Carolinas in an effort to construct their boats on the primary branches
of the Ohio.
The summer had been exceedingly dry and the rivers remained low until Christmas
when a heavy snow fell and the cold became severe. Many hundreds of men, women
and children lay in open camps or crude structures until early spring. Dunlevy
revealed that some emigrants were Pennsylvania and Virginia inhabitants who
had sold their lands in a country still new in order to remove further west.
Most emigrants had many miles to travel just to get to the place of embarkment.
After the long journey downstream these hearty folks experienced a rather tiring
overland journey in an effort just to locate their lands.
Travel by foot, ox-cart, horseback, the great Pennsylvania wagons, or the smaller
wagons, all were designed for the pioneer's pursuance of a dream.
Cattle and hogs were among most pioneers' repertoire. Every so often the women
and smaller children would ride and the men and older boys would walk, driving
and caring for the livestock. Now and then an array of pack-horses would be
led along in single file loaded to capacity.
In moving from Pennsylvania to Marietta in 1789, one mother walked most of the
way leading a cow.
The first settler in Coshocton County, Ohio, tells that as a youth he walked
over the mountains barefooted from his home in Maryland starting in October,
1779.James Trimble, in the fall of 1784, moved from his home in
Virginia to the Ohio valley and first settled in Kentucky. A gathering of emigrants,
who were mostly Scotch-Irish, from that State accompanied him. Mrs. Trimble made the journey on horseback, carrying an eleven
month old infant in her arms, baptized Allen. This youngster
was thereafter twice chosen governor of Ohio.
The journey took several weeks. Their food was cooked at the campfires. Shelter
from the rains was nonexistent. Governor Trimble, in his autobiography, tells the dramatic
story of his mother crossing the swollen Clinch River on horseback, having two
little children on her horse with her. The horse had plunged into the hazardous
waters and gone too far to turn back. With complete control of her emotions,
Mrs. Trimble gave the horse the rein, held her two children
with her left arm, and clutched the horse's mane with her right hand. The stout
horse fought the current for about 300 yards and all safely reached shore.
Another daring episode was when the father of Dr. Ezra Ferris,
of Lawrenceburg, In., and two other families, started from Stanwich, Conn.,
for the Little Miami on September 20, 1789. This journey was looked upon as
venturesome and original. As the wagons began to move the families were encircled
by a rather inquisitive audience.
Their route was along the road on the north side of Long Island to New York
City, thence through New Jersey and Pennsylvania and over the Alleghenies to
the Monongahela River. From this point they traveled by boat to Columbia at
the mouth of the Little Miami. They arrived December 12, 1789, taking two months
and twenty days for the journey.
George Washington, the great American, was the first to reveal in words the
journey from the origin of the Ohio to the waters of the Kanawha, keeping a
journal of his observations. This excursion took place in 1770, five years before
the Revolution. The voyage was taken on behalf of the soldiers claims to a bounty
of 200,000 acres which had been promised by the colony of Virginia to officers
and men. Col. Washington and his neighbor, Dr. Craik,
set out by horse on October 5. Accompanying them were three Negro servants,
two belonging to Col. Washington and one to Dr. Craik.
They traveled periodically and reached Fort Pitt in twelve days. The two left
their horses behind and commenced in a large canoe for the voyage down the Ohio.
They were accompanied by Captain William Crawford along with
two Indians and an interpreter.
In his journal Washington recorded the distances each day. On the downward voyage,
while rowing all day, they averaged over 30 miles, the greatest distance being
32 miles.
The upstream venture was more of a chore, the greatest distance being 27 miles
in a single day. Heavy rains caused the river to rise and, after rowing tirelessly
the greater part of the day, the distance was reduced to only 18 miles. The
next day the current was so strong that only five miles was gained.
Washington took his only long walk in Ohio at the southern boundary of Meigs
County, a long bend in the river being located at this point. Washington ordered
the boat around the neck and he and Captain Crawford walked across this portion.
They spent two and one-half hours in this walk, the distance estimated at eight
miles. The hike was taken November 5, 1770.

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